Modigliana Cathedral, otherwise the Church of Santo Stefano Papa (), is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

and the principal church of

Modigliana Modigliana () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Forlì-Cesena in the Italy, Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southeast of Bologna and about southwest of Forlì. The toponym derives from (Castrum) ''Mutilum'', meaning � ...

Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both , ; or ; ) is an Regions of Italy, administrative region of northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia (region), Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of , and a population of 4.4 m ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is dedicated to the sainted

Pope Stephen I Pope Stephen I ( ) was the Bishop of Rome from 12 May 254 to his death on 2 August 257.Mann, Horace (1912). "Pope St. Stephen I" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company. He was later Canonization, canonized a ...

. An ancient church, it was made the seat of the

bishops of Modigliana A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

on the creation of the diocese in 1850, and from 1986 has been a

co-cathedral A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or ''cathedra'', with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances o ...

in the

Diocese of Faenza-Modigliana The Diocese of Faenza-Modigliana () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy.

History and description

The cathedral has ancient origins. It was documented for the first time in 892 as the ''

pieve In Italy in the Middle Ages, a ''pieve'' (, ; ; : ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. ''Pieve'' is also an Italian and Corsican term signifying the medieval ecclesiastical/a ...

'' of Santo Stefano in Juviniano; of this building nothing remains except the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

, thanks to the extreme re-structuring of the 15th century. The new church was dedicated to the same patron by

Pope Julius II Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...

on the occasion of his passage through the city in 1506 during his pastoral visitation of the province of Romagna. Further alterations were made in the 18th century, with the addition of the

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

. When the diocese of Modigliana was set up in 1850 the pieve of Santo Stefano became its cathedral. Features of particular note are the Sanctuary of the ''Madonna del cantone'', built at the back of the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

in the 15th century, and the oratory of the Dead Jesus, built inside the ancient crypt in the 12th century, which today houses the tombs of the bishops who died in Modigliana.

References

External links

Diocesan website: history

Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Churches in the province of Forlì-Cesena 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Cathedrals in Emilia-Romagna {{Italy-RC-cathedral-stub